Lander City Council gets hands-on with new ladder truck

(Lander, Wyo.) – After last night’s brief meeting, the Lander City Council took another hour and learned about the Lander Volunteer Fire Department’s new ladder truck. By the end of the evening, some of the council, and Mayor Mick Wolfe himself, got to ride on the platform on the partially extended 100-foot ladder.

Before going outside to get some of the details, Fire Administrator Nick Hudson recapped the long road to get to where it is now. The project to replace the now more than 30-year-old ladder truck began six years ago. He talked about the committee work that went into designing the truck the department needed, and the efforts to find funding. After three applications to the State Loan and Investment Board, the department earned a 50 percent grant to pay for the nearly $900,000 truck.

The truck, manufactured out of Wyoming, Minn., arrived in town about two weeks ago. It’ll be a few more weeks before it will be in service as some equipment still needs to be moved from the old truck to the new and more training needs to be done.

Outside, Hudson and Fire Chief Eric Siwik showed the council and a few others the many features of the truck. He pointed out the safety features, such as a ladder that can bring the bucket to the ground, single joy-stick maneuvering, and side-loading capabilities for hoses.